Combined letter-sheet and envelop.



Patented. May 24, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

EMIL A. GHRISTOPH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COMBINED LETTER-SHEET AND ENVELOP- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 760,423, dated May 24: 1904. Application filed September 22, 1902. Serial No. 124,482. (No model.)

To all whrmt it nuty concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL A. CHRISTOIH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Uhi cage, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Letter-Sheet and Envelop, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a combined lettersheet and envelop. Its object is to simplify and improve the usual means for correspondonce by dispensing entirely with a separate envelop for inclosing the letter and utilizing the address on the letter for carrying it when folded and sealed through the mails or otherwise to its destination. I accomplish this by adapting the letter-sheet to be'folded and secured with its contents concealed, but with the address exposed, one method of carrying the invention into effect being illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows the letter-sheet unfolded with the lines of fold indicated by broken lines. Fig. 2 shows the sheet partly folded. Fig. 3 shows the sheet folded in the form of an envelop and sealed. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the paster. Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 3. Figs. 6 and 7 are sectional views, the former being taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1 and the latter being a similar section without the transparent covering 24:-

In the drawings, 10 designates the lettersheet, and 11 11, 12 12, 13 13 are broken lines indicating the lines of fold. After the letter has been written or printed in the usual manner the sheet is first folded lengthwise on the line 11 11, and then the lower end is folded on the line 12 12, as shown in Fig. 2. The upper portion is then folded on the line 13 13 and tucked in between the parts 14 15 of the lower end of the sheet formed and arranged as described by the first and second folds to receive said upper end of the sheet. The sheet is then sealed and secured in envelop form by a pastor 16, which is gummed at 17 and 18 adjacent to its side edges and adapted to be folded on the line 19 19 adjacent to the gummed surface 17 and affixed to both sides of the folded sheet at one end there of, as shown in Fig. 3. This pastor is pref erably perforated along the lines 19 19 and 20 20, so that to open the folded sheet a pencil or other suitable instrument may be first slipped in. between the sheet and the ungummed portion 21 of the pastor and worked to tear the paster along the line of perforations 19 19 at the end of the folded sheet and then inserted between the part 14 and the up.

per portion of the sheet, which is tucked thereunder, to tear the pastor along the line of perforations 2O 20. In this way I provide for opening the folded sheet without tearing it or mutilating the letter in any way. This pastor may bear the senders address and suitable directions for opening the folded sheet-as, for example, To open, tear on dotted lines, Fig. 3. The sheet has a section out out to form an opening 252, and when the sheet is folded as described the address of the letter in the section 23 will be disclosed through the opening in the proper and usual position of an address on an envelop, and a stamp may be aflixed in its usual position above the address at 25. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the opening 22 is covered with a strip 2 1 of transparent material, which may be pasted or otherwise aflixed to the sheet at the edges of the opening. This transparent covering protects the address from being smeared or mutilated in any way and at the same time permits of its being read without difficulty, as it is always in plain View and in the usual position on the envelop.

In the drawings, Fig. 3 shows the folded and scaled sheet ready for mailing, the address appearing upside down because it is desired to show clearly the method of folding the sheet.

My improved letter-sheet thus dispenses entirely with the necessity for an inclosing envelop and absolutely prevents the inconvenience and annoyance which occurs more or less frequently from inclosing a letter addressed and written to one person in an envelop addressed to another. It can be folded and sealed ready for mailing quickly and with a certainty that it will be forwarded addressed to the proper person. The manner in which the sheet is folded also permits it to hold and conceal inclosures of ordinary character without obscuring the address or liability of slipping out.

It is of course apparent that other means may be employed for sealing the sheet than the particular paster herein shown and described, and it is also apparent that for some purposes the transparent covering may be omitted; but I prefer to provide such a covering to avoid the danger of tearing the sheet at the edges of the opening during transmission through the mails.

I have referred to the section 23 as an address-section and shown it in the drawings at the usual place above the body of the letter; but it will be understood that the opening may be arranged for disclosing something else, and I mean to cover and include the use of an opening in a letter-sheet for disclosing any part of the inside thereof whether it bears the address or some other Written or printed matter.

The improved letter-sheet is adapted to receive written or printed matter of any description, and it may be used for regular correspondence or for bills, statements, invoices, circulars, &e.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A letter-sheet provided with an addresssection and an opening alongside said section, said sheet being adapted to be folded in envelop form With the address disclosed through said opening.

2. A letter-sheet provided with an addresssection and an opening alongside said section, and a strip of transparent material affixed to the sheet at the edges of the opening and covering said opening.

3. A letter-sheet provided with an addresssection and an opening, said sheet being ad apted to be folded in envelop form with the address disclosed through said opening, and a paster adapted to be affixed to both sides of the folded sheet at one end thereof to seal the same.

Aletter-sheet provided with an addresssection and an opening, said sheet beingadapted to be folded in envelop form with the address disclosed through said opening, and a paster gummed adjacent to its side edges and having an intermediate ungummed portion, said paster being adapted to be affixed to both sides of the folded sheet at one end thereof to seal the same. i

5. Aletter-sheet provided with an addresssection and an opening, said sheet being adapted to be folded in envelop form with the address disclosed through said opening, said sheet being first folded lengthwise and then having its ends folded toward each other and one end tucked in between the folds of the other end, and means for sealing the sheet after it is folded.

EMIL A. CHRISTOPH.

Witnesses:

WM. 0. BELT, PAUL SoHMEoKEL. 

